Abalone

Abalone, the Spanish name used in California for various species of the shellfish? of the Haliotidae? family, with a richly coloured shell yielding mother-of-pearl?. This sort of Haliotis? is also commonly called ``ear-shell,'' in Guernsey ``ormer'' (Fr. ormier, for oreille de mer), and "paua" in New Zealand.

The abalone shell is found especially at [Santa Barbara]? and other places on the Californian coast from the south up to Ford Bragg and beyond, and when polished makes a beautiful ornament?. The mollusc? itself is often eaten, and dried for consumption in China and Japan.

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Source: An unnamed encyclopedia via a project that puts out-of-copyright texts onto the Internet. This is from a very old source, and reflects the thinking of about 1900 in the UK. -- BryceHarrington